A lack of maintenance in PV systems can cause hot-spots due to localized or irregular dirt, causing permanent losses and reducing the reliability of the system. By-pass diodes were introduced to lessen this problem although they do not eliminate it completely, as recent literature has shown. This paper analyzes the use of distributed MPPT (DMPPT) in relation to mitigation of hot-spot problems. A full analysis is performed, including simulations of I-V curves under different shading situations and an in-field analysis. The results show that DMPPT is less prone to hot-spots than central MPPT in a different range of shadows depending on the module type. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.